The PC government has backed a bill that would make intimate partner violence an epidemic

Ontario is backing an opposition bill to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic in the province, Government House Leader Paul Calandra said Wednesday, reversing an earlier rejection of the idea.

Calandra said the Progressive Conservative government will ask the justice committee to conduct a thorough investigation into intimate partner violence and come back with recommendations.

The move comes after the New Democrats introduced a bill that would declare intimate partner violence an epidemic. The private member's bill went to second reading Wednesday night, but it could easily be defeated by a majority Progressive Conservative government.

But the bill will not be defeated, Calandra said in response to a question from Official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles about whether the bill would be supported in the legislature.

“Indeed, the government and this committee support the private member's bill that comes before the House today,” Calandra said.

“In fact, we are going a step further, Mr. Speaker… The Prime Minister has asked us to consult the Standing Committee on Justice to conduct an in-depth study on all aspects of intimacy. intimate partner violence, the programs that currently exist, some of the root causes of it, and how we can do better in the province of Ontario.”

According to the NDP, nearly 100 municipalities in the province have already declared intimate partner violence an epidemic.

A move reverses the previous position

Last June, the province rejected calls from an inquest into the deaths of three women at the hands of their ex-partners to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.

The 2015 Renfrew County coroner's jury in the deaths of Natalie Warmerdam, Carol Culleton and Anastasia Kuzyk made the recommendation a year ago Wednesday, along with 85 others, aimed at preventing similar tragedies.

The province said at the time that it would not declare intimate partner violence an epidemic because it is not a contagious or contagious disease.

The government's change of position surprised Stiles.

“We don't have many days where we do something like this,” he told the legislature. “So I want to thank the government for agreeing today.”

However, Stiles opposed the bill being referred to committee, pushing the government to move away from a simple declaration.

“We've had report after report, we know what's going on there,” Stiles said.

Some victims of intimate partner violence spoke at Queen's Park and called on the government to act quickly.

Fartumo Kusov's daughter disappeared last May. In early June, Windsor, Ont. police charged her estranged husband with first-degree murder. Police found her body the day after the charges were filed.

Kusov called the government's move to support the bill a “good first step,” but wants to see action after the words.

“The biggest tragedy in Ontario is that we're still debating this issue in 2024,” Kusow said. “How many more women have to die before we say enough is enough?”